DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURE & SCIENCE MAGAZINE APRIL | MAY 2015 INSIDE MYTHIC CREATURES FINAL WEEKS FOR SILK ROAD PREHISTORIC TURTLES The ideas they traded were as important as the silk. Long before the Internet, the Silk Road connected humanity. Experience the 5,700 miles from China to Constantinople complete with the scent of spices, exquisite silks, and the exchange of radical ideas CLOSES MAY 3 that were the foundation of the modern world. Traveling the Silk Road: Ancient Pathway to the Modern World is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York (www.amnh.org) in collaboration with the ArtScience Museum, Singapore; Azienda Speciale Palaexpo, Roma, Italy and Codice. Idee per la cultura srl, Torino, Italy; the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, Australia and Art Exhibitions Australia; and the National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung, Taiwan and United Daily News, Taipei, Taiwan. Dear Members, CONTENTS To say that the new collections facility is a dream come true is not 2 IN THE KNOW a stretch. A 1974 facility master Here’s the latest about what’s going on inside and plan called for a consolidated outside the Museum. storage area for the burgeoning science collections. This proposal 4 FEATURED EXHIBITION didn’t come to be, but the vision Meet legends that have inspired stories, art, and many stayed top of mind for Museum theories about their origins in the new exhibition Mythic leaders for many years. In 2007, Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids. voters approved the Better Denver bond, which, much to 6 MUSEUM INSIDER our gratitude, positioned the Our new paleontologist’s study of prehistoric turtles has Museum to make this long-held revealed how these popular animals breathe inside their dream a reality. Since then, community leaders and philanthropists, hulking body shield. government partners, corporations, and foundations all provided vital support for the state-of-the-art science collections center. 8 MUSEUM TREASURES We are particularly grateful to the Avenir Foundation, A set of beautiful Arapaho dolls from the education whose gifts totaling $4.85 million have helped build and equip collection tell stories of one of Colorado’s First Nations. the new center, move collections, and endow their long-term 10 GET INVOLVED conservation. In recognition of their transformational support, Let’s work together to be catalysts and ignite the the Museum has named the facility the Avenir Collections Center. community’s passion for science and nature. The Lakewood-based Avenir Foundation supports arts and culture through education and preservation, truly living up to its 21 DISCOVER SCIENCE name, which was inspired by the French word l’avenir, “future Hear the true tale of the infamous camel spider, often the or time to come.” Their support helps the Museum ensure that subject of modern folklore. the stories, science, and wonder inherent in our nearly 1.5 million natural and cultural objects will endure for generations. Since opening in 2014, the Avenir Collections Center has been buzzing with activity. The entire insect collection has been moved into its new home, as has nearly all of the mammal FIND IT @ DMNS.ORG collection. One-hundred percent of the Museum archives (formerly housed in multiple sites around the building) are now • Print-at-home tickets for surcharged exhibitions, in one location. Moving will continue throughout 2015, with 70 Planetarium and IMAX shows, lectures, and programs percent of the collections relocated by the end of the year. It • Reservations for members events takes time to move such precious items! • Hours and showtimes The 63,000-square-foot Avenir Collections Center provides • Calendar of events the highest standards in climate control and stable storage conditions. It also features workspaces, labs, and a conservation • Museum Scientists center where collections can be safely, efficiently, and • Today’s Weather at the Museum comfortably studied and preserved by our own scientists and • Heavens Above sky information researchers from around the globe. The generous support of the Avenir Foundation and other community partners—like you, our • Membership renewals and purchases members—ensures that the Museum can sustain its commitment Join Our Community: to igniting our community’s passion for nature and science. ON THE COVER FROM THE ANTHROPOLOGY COLLECTIONS Shell anklet George Sparks AC.9205A President and CEO Huastec, Precolumbian Mesoamerica You may contact George Sparks by e-mail at [email protected]. ca. AD 1000–1521 Depicts Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent Rick Wicker Catalyst, Issue 28 © 2015 Denver Museum of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd., Denver, CO 80205 [email protected] • Catalyst is produced and published six times a year by the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for its members. • Address changes: members@ dmns.org or 303.370.6306 (daily, 9–5) • IMAX is a registered trademark of the IMAX Corporation. • Denver Museum of Nature & Science exhibits and programs are made possible in part by the citizens of the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District. • Printed on recycled paper. CATALYST | 1 FINAL WEEKS TO TRAVEL THE SILK ROAD! Did you know that it takes about 2,500 silkworms to produce one pound of silk, enough for one robe? In the exhibition Traveling the Silk Road, you will see live silkworms and examine a massive replica of a Tang-era loom from China as you explore the once carefully guarded secrets of sericulture, the process for raising worms to make silk. Now open through Sunday, May 3! Get tickets @ www.dmns.org/silkroad. IN THE KNOW EXTRA FUN ON SCFD COMMUNITY FREE DAYS The Museum is planning some fun themes to enhance SCFD Community Free Days in April and May. Sunday, April 12: Celebrate Earth Day with special activities devoted to exploring our amazing planet! Dive into a live interactive science and music theater program where you’ll wiggle like a honeybee and sing with the trees. Explore natural resources and learn about local wildlife with the National Park Service. Meet Museum scientists from the Zoology and Earth Sciences Departments and get up close to collections from behind the scenes. Sunday, April 25: The Museum is partnering with the Mexican Cultural Center and the Consulate General of Mexico in Denver to present the second annual Día del Niño celebration. Enjoy music and dance performances by local community groups as well as special crafts and other science and nature activities. Get your photo taken with mascots from local sports teams, and have fun with balloon animals and face painting. Enjoy bilingual programming at various stops across the Museum. Sunday, May 31: Focus on space exploration throughout the day. Make your own rocket and launch it with RocketWorks. Catch presentations by space scientists, space educators, and space explorers. Safely view the sun through solar telescopes (weather permitting) and find out how to get involved in astronomy. Join Youth One Book One Denver for a scavenger hunt to get this year’s read for teens. SCFD Community Free Days are made possible by the Scientific & Cultural Facilities District, a unique funding source serving hundreds of metro Denver arts, culture, and scientific organizations. Find out more @ www.scfd.org. LEGENDS ON LARIMER Dragons, unicorns, and mermaids have descended upon Larimer Square in downtown Denver! Sixteen local artists created legendary creatures to celebrate the new exhibition Mythic Creatures, now open at the Museum. Find out more @ www.dmns.org/legendsonlarimer. 2 | APRIL/MAY 2015 | DMNS.ORG HEAVENS ABOVE NASA’s tractor trailer–size Dawn spacecraft was pulled into the orbit of Ceres, a dwarf planet, in early March. Dawn is the first probe to orbit a dwarf planet. It was about 38,000 miles away when it was pulled into Ceres’s gravity. Dawn has been slowly working its way into orbit-capture since arriving at Ceres in January and is set to begin dedicated mapping operations in late April. Ceres was discovered in 1801 as the first object found in our solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, known as the Asteroid Belt. (The most famous dwarf planet, Pluto, wasn’t found until 1930 and is in the Kuiper Belt.) Ceres is about 310 million miles from Earth. It was initially classified as a planet, later demoted to an asteroid, and then reclassified again as a dwarf planet. Ceres is the largest body in the main asteroid belt with a diameter of 590 miles. The Dawn spacecraft will study this intriguing world in great detail. Meanwhile, 3 billion miles from Earth, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft has begun its long-awaited, historic encounter with Pluto. The spacecraft is on the homestretch of a 10-year flight, which launched in January 2006. The spacecraft’s closest approach occurs on July 14, 2015, but by May, images of the distant icy world will be better than those taken by the Hubble telescope. During the encounter with Pluto and its moon Charon, New Horizons will map the geology and topography of these unexplored worlds, determine their surface composition and temperature, and measure Pluto’s atmosphere. New Horizons will study Pluto’s smaller moons and search for new moons and planetary rings. From there, it is expected to head further into the Kuiper Belt to examine other icy mini worlds. Find sky information for April and May @ www.dmns.org/ © NASA heavensabove. NEW AT THE MUSEUM Chase a salmon! The upgrades in Bears and Sea Mammals Hall on Level 2 are complete, and one of the new features is a virtual salmon streambed projected onto the floor of the gallery. Try channeling your inner bear and see if you can catch a salmon. The projection also includes a new elf drawn just for this project by artist Kent Pendleton, who painted many of the other diorama elves as his personal signature.